


Important People (Figure It Out)

by dieukyungsoo



Series: dieukyungsoo's one shots + drabbles [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 22:03:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20378839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dieukyungsoo/pseuds/dieukyungsoo
Summary: Park Chanyeol has a habit of coming home late. Byun Baekhyun thinks he's hiding something.





	Important People (Figure It Out)

**Author's Note:**

> heya lovelies!! this is a little drabble i wrote earlier this year and just dug up gain so i thought i'd share it lmao enjoy!!! if you wanna read more oneshots from me i have a book on aff which you can find here https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1360220/trouvaille-a-oneshot-collection

Byun Baekhyun was used to Park Chanyeol being late.

They were both often later than they had said. They both got easily distracted, Baekhyun having came home with three shopping bags on each arm more than once when walking home. They both were also quite unlucky, their modes of transportation often being unreliable - Chanyeol’s piece of shit car he had had since he was seventeen constantly broke down; bus traffic was always congested; the subway was always late.

When Chanyeol wasn’t home at three in the afternoon like he said he would, Baekhyun wasn’t worried. He was used to it.

When it was half past three, and there wasn’t even any word from Chanyeol, Baekhyun grew a little worried, but figured he had just gotten held up after class and texting Baekhyun saying he was going to be late had slipped his mind, that he was too wrapped up in rushing home that he didn’t have time to text him.

When it was four, and still no sign or word from Chanyeol, Baekhyun called him, and Baekhyun scaled into full panic mode when he didn’t pick up.

Baekhyun’s mind wandered - what had happened to his boyfriend? He left for his 1pm journalism class at about twelve thirty. His class ended at two thirty, meaning he was home around three. He usually walked to class, leaving their apartment on Euclid Avenue, taking 11th Street down to Penn Drive, where he would cross the Prospect Bridge to cut across Front Street, where the university was. Chanyeol had text Baekhyun saying he was in class at exactly 12:57, and had text him again at 2:13, asking if Baekhyun wanted to go for a late lunch/early dinner after, and again at 2:35, saying he was about to leave.

Something had to have happened to Chanyeol in the two hours it’s been since Baekhyun had heard from him, somewhere between the university and the apartment.

Baekhyun tried to think of what could make Chanyeol two hours late with no word whatsoever. Perhaps he had dropped his phone in Prosperity River, or dropped it along 11th, and had gotten caught up in trying to find it. Maybe he was mugged on the corner of 11th and Fulton, which, to Baekhyun, was quite sketchy, even if someone hadn’t been murdered and dismembered there three years ago.

Baekhyun was rifling through the junk drawer, trying to find the blue Post-It note that had Do Kyungsoo’s number scrawled across it when the door clicked.

Do Kyungsoo was Chanyeol’s friend and classmate, and although Baekhyun had met him a number of times, even taking the subway out to his place on Cambridge to drop him off food and watch Clueless and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion with him when Chanyeol was away for the weekend and Kyungsoo claimed he was sick, but even Baekhyun knew it was because he had figured out Kim Jongin had cheated on him, Baekhyun never remembered to save his number into his phone.

Baekhyun looked up, watching Chanyeol struggle to open the door.

“I can explain.” Chanyeol started, and Baekhyun didn’t know whether he wanted to fly across the counter and drop-kick him into next week or take his clothes off right there in the doorway.

Baekhyun was about to chew him out, tell him off for his lack of communication and making him worry when his eyes wandered down to Chanyeol’s arms, where he held a dog and two cats in one, and an animal carrier in the other, containing only what Baekhyun assumed was yet another animal.

“Chanyeol.” Baekhyun sighed, not knowing what else he could say.

“I can explain!” Chanyeol insisted, closing the door behind him. “In class today, we went over an article that talked about euthanasia in animal shelters. Walking home I saw one and it reminded me of what we did in class and I felt bad so I bought two dogs and two cats. I don’t know whether the shelter even uses euthanasia or not, but they looked so sad, Baekkie. How would you like it if you were cooped up in a cage your whole life? They need homes, Baekkie, and guess what! We have one!”

Chanyeol broke out into an ear-to-ear grin, visibly excited by the new additions to their home. Baekhyun was excited, too, but thought more practically than his boyfriend in this situation.

“Yeollie, the apartment has a strict no pets rule. The old lady three floors down is allergic to dogs and Park Kyung five doors over is like, really allergic to cats. He’ll be down here soon ready to kick your ass. Like me! You know there’s a no pets rule here. You were two hours late. Two hours! With no word! No text, wouldn’t pick up my calls, nothing! Chanyeol, you could’ve been dead and I wouldn’t’ve known!”

“Baekkie, Baekkie,” Chanyeol soothed, setting the animals and the cage down, and opening the cage down to allow the other dog to wander out and explore their new home with it’s new siblings. Chanyeol crossed the room, wrapping his arms around Baekhyun from behind. “I’m sorry. I never mean to make you worry.”

“It seems like it’s been going on a lot more lately, though.” Baekhyun muttered. 

This wasn’t the first time Chanyeol had been dangerously late, and to Baekhyun it seemed like it was every time after class nowadays, and he was getting later and later, making Baekhyun worry more and more.

“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol told him, kissing his jaw. “I just got caught up. I’ll make sure to text you next time, mmkay?”

“Yeol,” Baekhyun pushed Chanyeol away from him. “This can’t keep happening, okay? It’s too much on me to not know when you’re coming home, if at all.”

“You know it’s not like that.” Chanyeol leaned against the counter, crossing his arms in a casual way, not strict or saying he was angry. Baekhyun slid back into the bar stool at the counter, his phone and Chanyeol’s keys laying in front of him. He moved them aside gently as he leaned forward onto it, propping his head in his hands. 

“I can’t help it. And I don’t know why you need more dogs - you already have Toben. We don’t have room for these animals, and I don’t think your mom wants anymore, either.”

“What does my mom have to do with this?” 

Baekhyun shot Chanyeol a look. “Literally every weekend? You go home to your mom’s place to see Toben. You spend the night and come back Sunday, leaving me alone all weekend.”

“Is that what I told you?”

“Yes!” Baekhyun shrieked, standing abruptly. Any worry or sympathetic feelings Baekhyun held for Chanyeol were quickly replaced with shaking anger. “Have you been lying to me, Park Chanyeol? What are you really doing every weekend? Are you cheating on me?”

“No!” Chanyeol exclaimed. “Baek, I would never-”

“Don’t call me that.” Baekhyun grumbled.

Chanyeol rolled his eyes. “Baekhyun, I would never cheat on you. It’s ridiculous that you would even think that! I am at my mom’s every weekend, but Toben isn’t the sole reason I’m there. I want to see my family, Baekhyun, that’s it. So yeah, I’m there to see Toben, but I’m also there to see my sister, my parents, my brother-in-law…”

“Your brother-in-law’s there?” Baekhyun asked meekly.

Chanyeol had told Baekhyun what he did at his family’s for the weekends. When the weather was nice, mainly in the summer, he and his father would go fishing. They’d go swimming occasionally, and Chanyeol’s sister would threaten to drown him. They’d watch Chanyeol’s favourite movie, Labyrinth, on rainy days, and in winter Chanyeol’s mother would make fudge, which he claimed was the best on Earth and would often bring some back for Baekhyun. There was, of course, Saturday night diner, which Chanyeol deemed was his favourite family tradition. During his childhood, dinner usually took place on Sunday night, but with both Chanyeol and his sister being grown and having moved out, they pushed it back to Saturday night.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol had only been together for seven months, and Baekhyun was yet to meet Chanyeol’s family. His sister had married her husband before Chanyeol had met Baekhyun, and so he did not attend the wedding. 

Chanyeol hadn’t met Baekhyun’s family, either; Baekhyun had come out as gay when he was sixteen, and hadn’t talked to them since. He lived with his aunt for a year before moving out, but even Chanyeol had met his aunt. It was hard not too, she was everywhere. She would drop off fresh-baked cookies every Friday before Chanyeol left, and Baekhyun went to her about everything - Baekhyun got as much as a paper cut and his aunt was already on the other side of the phone line. Baekhyun had even forced Chanyeol to meet Baekhyun’s best friend, Kim Jongdae, and his fiancé, Kim Minseok, despite Chanyeol and Jongdae having a bit of a rocky relationship. They were both quite competitive and had a slight superiority complex. They would go head-to-head over who Baekhyun liked more, who knew Baekhyun more, to the point that when Baekhyun and Minseok (who, unlike their flames, got along much, much better) arranged a double date night, Minseok had to carry Jongdae out after he tried to stand on a chair to sock Chanyeol in the face.

Knowing that Chanyeol’s brother-in-law was at these family weekend dinners and he wasn’t hurt Baekhyun. 

Chanyeol constantly told Baekhyun how much he meant to him, how much he loved him, how Baekhyun was one of the best things to ever happen to him, the best person that had ever entered his life, and that he couldn’t stand being away from him for more than a weekend. 

You would think that when you meant so much to someone, they’d be willing to bring you to their family’s for a weekend.

“Why wouldn’t he be?” Chanyeol asked, making Baekhyun question just how dumb Chanyeol was.

Baekhyun hesitated before answering. He opened and closed his mouth, wrapped his arms around himself, shifted his weight from one foot to the other, looked away from Chanyeol and then met his gaze again.

“I didn’t know he was.”

“Of course he is, everyone important to us-” Chanyeol cut himself off, and Baekhyun’s eyes widened in shock, shooting Chanyeol a look. “Baekhyun, that’s not what I meant.” he whispered.

“What did you mean then? You just said everyone important was there! Am I not important to you, Chanyeol? Are you lying to me? Again?”

“No, Baekkie, please,” Chanyeol begged, grasping Baekhyun’s arm and pulling him close to him. “That’s not what I mean to say. I’m not lying to you - of course you’re important to me. Why wouldn’t you be? You’re the most important person in my life.”

“Then why have you never invited me?” Baekhyun asked, trying to shove the sob that forced its way up back down. “Why haven’t I met your family, other important people to you? You know why you haven’t met my family-”

“Your family are assholes.”

Baekhyun laughed, leaning into Chanyeol. “Exactly. But you’ve met other people important to me, the people I consider family more than them. Auntie Younghee, Jongdae and Minseok…” Baekhyun trailed off, lifting his hand up to Chanyeol’s face, moving a stray piece of hair out of his face. “Yeollie, I know that when you introduce someone you love to other people you love, one important person to another, it seems daunting, like you’re committing deeply to that one person, you’re scared you’re moving too fast. I get that, but-”

“That’s not it, Baekkie,” Chanyeol interjected, lifting his hand away from his face. “My family doesn’t know about you. They don’t know I’m gay.”

This was something Baekhyun could work with. Chanyeol was stubborn, and if a fear of commitment was why he hadn’t introduced Baekhyun to his family, Baekhyun would have difficulty persuading Chanyeol to introduce him, despite how persuasive Baekhyun was.

Although Baekhyun didn’t want to force Chanyeol into anything he didn’t want to do or was uncomfortable doing, Baekhyun knew exactly what strings to pull at to get Chanyeol moving.

“You know, Jongdae introduced Minseok to his parents nine months into their relationship.”

Chanyeol took Baekhyun out to his family’s that weekend. The first thing he did Tuesday night after they returned, when Jongdae and Minseok stopped in for the evening, was yell “Ha! I’m a better boyfriend than you. I introduced Baekhyun to my family seven months in.”

“Well, I asked Minseok to marry me, so…” Jongdae trailed off, shrugging over a glass of red wine because he was ‘classier than Chanyeol’, who couldn’t stand the smell of it, but after Jongdae’s remark a few moments ago, attempted to chug half the bottle.

“No you didn’t,” Minseok piped in from the sofa next to Baekhyun, both with their own glasses of wine (Chanyeol’s wine had been replaced with a soda can Chanyeol had found in the bottom of the fridge). “I asked you.”

“Jesus Minnie, who’s side are you on?” Jongdae asked. 

Minseok ignored him, turning back to Baekhyun. “We can definitely take the cats off your hands,” he said, rubbing the black-and-white on with his foot. “They’ll get along fine with Tan. I don’t know what to do about the dogs, though. I don’t really like dogs.”

“It’s cool,” Baekhyun waved him off. “We’ll figure something out.”


End file.
